Stalin’s rise to power and his Key Domestic Policies

At the beginning of the twentieth century Russia had been ruled by the Tsars for over three hundred years. However, with Russia doing badly in the Great War and living conditions in Russia were poor, in March 1917, a revolution broke out, resulting in the abdication of the Tsar, resulting in a provisional government being formed. This essay will look at Stalin’s rise to power and the success of his Domestic policies. In April, Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party returned from exile. His April thesis was popular with the people through his communist ideology and popular slogans â€Å"All power to the soviets† and â€Å"Peace, Bread, Land.† In November a second revolution, organised by Trotsky overthrew the provisional†¦show more content†¦As stated by Kuromiya: 2 â€Å"Historians have traditionally attributed the rise of Stalin to his cunning, political manipulation and intrigue.† (Kuromiya, 2005, p70) By 1928, Stalin had decided to modernise Soviet industry, requiring a more efficient agricultural system. Most farms were small and used old fashioned farming methods, with little machinery. Agriculture was producing two million tonnes less grain than was needed, as Todd states: â€Å"Stalin decided that 25 million individual peasant holdings should be joined into 250,000 state collected farms.† (Todd, 1998, p37) However in 1930 a serious food shortage led Stalin to end the NEP and begin compulsory collectivisation of agriculture. This led to much opposition and many slaughtered their animals and destroyed their crops and heavy machinery rather than turn them over to collectivists. This led to Stalin result to harsher methods; many Kulaks were sent to Gulags, prison camps or were hanged. Food production dropped sharply and several million died from famine. By 1939, 99 percent had been collectivised, with 90 percent of the produce going to the state, with the remaining 10 percent left to the workers. Soviet industry was limited leading Stalin to fear invasion by capitalist nations. He saw the country as being fifty to one